NCAA BK

Six coaches who have new jobs this season

The coach of ''Dunk City,'' the first No. 15 seed to make it to
the round of 16 in the NCAA tournament, has switched coasts.

Andy Enfield has gone from Florida Gulf Coast to Southern
California, and he's not the only new coach in the Los Angeles
area.

Steve Alford has taken up residence at Pauley Pavilion as UCLA's
new coach after six seasons at New Mexico. Even Cal State
Northridge got a coach with a known name in Reggie Theus.

Other coaches in new jobs this season include the son of the
reigning NCAA championship coach, a two-time championship point
guard who is still the NCAA career assists leader, and a veteran
coach with a championship ring from long ago.

Here are six coaches trying to put their marks on new
schools:

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Steve Alford, UCLA. The Indiana native who played on a national
championship team for Bobby Knight in 1987 is now part of the
Hollywood scene. Alford agreed to a new 10-year deal with New
Mexico last March, but days later went to UCLA instead to replace
the fired Ben Howland. There has been only one championship for the
Bruins since fellow Hoosier John Wooden won the last of his 10 NCAA
titles in 1975. The 48-year-old Alford has a 463-235 record in 22
seasons of coaching, and led the Lobos to four of the last five
Mountain West regular-season titles.

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Andy Enfield, USC. Southern California athletic director Pat
Haden was among many people who knew nothing about Enfield until
Florida Gulf Coast, with its entertaining high-flying and
high-scoring act, upset No. 2 seed Georgetown and No. 7 seed San
Diego State in the NCAA tournament. But the 44-year-old Enfield was
41-28 in his two seasons at the school while the Trojans were going
20-44. Enfield was previously an assistant coach for four seasons
at Florida State, another school where football so often
overshadows everything else, and also an NBA assistant for
Milwaukee and Boston.

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Bobby Hurley, Buffalo. Hurley had 1,076 assists as Duke's point
guard and was part of three consecutive NCAA Final Four appearances
with Coach K in the early 1990s, including the 1991 and 1992
national titles. At age 42, Hurley gets his first shot at being a
head coach, with a team coming off a 14-20 season. He worked the
past three seasons on his younger brother Dan's staffs, at Rhode
Island last season after two years at Wagner College. Hurley was a
first-round draft pick by Sacramento and played five NBA seasons
before getting into thoroughbred racing as an owner and breeder. He
was also a scout for the Philadelphia 76ers.

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Richard Pitino, Minnesota. The son of defending NCAA champion
Louisville coach Rick Pitino, 31-year-old Richard moved to a
six-year contract in the Big Ten after only one season as a head
coach, going 18-14 at Florida International in the Sun Belt
Conference. FIU's first winning season in 13 years came after
Pitino replaced Isiah Thomas. At Minnesota, he replaces Tubby
Smith, fired even after an NCAA tournament appearance last March.
Before FIU, the younger Pitino spent three seasons combined at
Louisville, with two years as a Florida assistant for Billy Donovan
separating two short stints as an assistant for his father.

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Tubby Smith, Texas Tech. Fired from Minnesota after going 46-62
in Big Ten play over six seasons, Smith is now in the Big 12 with
the Red Raiders. Texas Tech returns four starters, but has won only
four conference games the past two years - under Billy Gillispie
and then interim coach Chris Walker last season. Smith has taken
his teams to the NCAA tournament 17 times in 22 seasons with four
teams (Minnesota, Kentucky, Georgia and Tulsa). But his only
championship came in 1998 at the end of his first season at
Kentucky. He made it to a regional final with the Wildcats in 2005,
but hasn't won more than one game in an NCAA tournament in any
season since.

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Reggie Theus, Cal State Northridge. Unlike new coaches at nearby
UCLA and USC, two-time NBA All-Star and 56-year-old Theus was born
and played his high school ball in the Los Angeles area. Theus is
back where he wanted to be - in college coaching. He was 41-23
during two seasons with New Mexico State (2005-07) with an NCAA
tournament appearance, parlaying that into a job as head coach of
the Sacramento Kings. His NBA gig lasted only 18 months. As a
player at UNLV, Theus helped lead the Runnin' Rebels to their first
NCAA Final Four appearance in 1977. Northridge is coming off a
14-17 season.

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